17th Annual Red Skelton Festival set for June 11-12, 2022!

The Festival will be a two-day event with all Saturday events back downtown at Patrick Henry Square on Main St. between 1st and 2nd Street, including stage entertainment, kids games, food trucks and more! The parade will step off at 5:30 PM on Saturday and will begin at 2nd and Hart,, continuing down 5th St. and finish on Main Street.  Brian Hoffman will be back as Red Skelton with a show on Saturday at 7:30 PM.

Sunday events at the Museum will include panel discussions and a classic Red Skelton film.

Saturday, June 11, 2022

Festival Button good for two days admission to museum (Button now for sale at museum’s gift shop.)

10:00 am – 7:15 pm  Museum open. Festival button good for museum admission all day

10:00 am – 4:30 pm Patrick Henry Square

11:00 am – Steel Drum Band

12:00 pm – Clown Follies

1:00 pm –The Lucy and Ricky Show featuring Carrie and Jeff Ketterman

2:00 pm – Donut eating contest

2:30 pm  – Bathtub races

3:00 pm – Brian “Red Skelton ” Hoffman on stage as, Junior

4:30 pm – Parade line up at First and Hart St.

4:30 pm – Kids Game close

5:30 pm – Parade

7:30 pm – The Red Skelton Tribute Show featuring Brian Hoffman with Carrie and Jeff Ketterman

Auction of special Red Skelton woodburning pieces by Jeff Wilsey after the show

Sunday June 12, 2022

12:00 pm  5:00 pm Museum open (Skelton Closet sale). Festival button good for Museum admission all day

12:30 pm – Hollywood Hoosiers in Humor (TV) Curator, Mark Kratzner will present people from Indiana that have played a major part in Television comedy (Dick York – Bewitched. Forrest Tucker – F Troop. Madilyn Pugh and Mary Jane Croft – I Love Lucy. Alvy Moore and Frank Inn – Green Acres and more.)

1:30 pm – Annette Bochenek will be talking about Hoosiers in classic Hollywood and their Indiana hometown. (Jean Hagen – Singing in the Rain, Clifton Webb – Mr.Belvedere films, Carole Lombard – My Man Godfrey, To Be or Not To Be, Florence Henderson – Brady Bunch, Phil Harris – Jack Benny radio program, and Irene Dunne – The Awful Truth, I Remember Mama.)

About Annette Bochenek

Dr. Annette Bochenek of Chicago, Illinois, is an avid scholar of Hollywood’s Golden Age. She manages the Hometowns to Hollywood blog, in which she writes about her trips exploring the legacies and hometowns of Golden Age stars. Annette also hosts the “Hometowns to Hollywood” film series throughout the Chicago area. She has been featured on Turner Classic Movies and is the president of TCM Backlot’s Chicago chapter. In addition to writing for TCM Backlot, she also writes for Classic Movie Hub, Silent Film Quarterly, Nostalgia Digest, and Chicago Art Deco Society Magazine.

2:30 pm – “Hometowns to Hollywood” Book signing

3:00 pm – Showing “Susan Slept Here” (1954 1hr 38min)   An Oscar winning Hollywood scriptwriter agrees to look after a rebellious teenage girl at Christmas in order to help with his research for a film about juvenile delinquency. The troublesome girl causes all kinds of problems, not the least of which is setting the writer’s girlfriend on fire with jealousy. Starring Dick Powell and Debbie Reynolds. Vincennes native, Alvy Moore (Green Acres) plays the best friend. Hoosier Herb Vigran (Ft. Wayne) is a police sergeant. Red Skelton appears at the end of the film.

June 11, 2022 5:30 PM – Parade route Begins at 1st and Hart St.